The owner of a mobile food van in Beaconsfield Old Town has been fined and banned from running any food business after Environmental Health Officers found he had repeatedly broken hygiene laws.

Muazzam Chaudhry, aged 53, of Grasholm Way, Langley, operated the Chilli and Grill mobile food van which traded in London End in Beaconsfield Old Town. He pleaded guilty to eight charges of food hygiene offences, including breaching a closure order at Reading Magistrates' Court on Thursday 27 June 2019.

Mr Chaudhry was fined £4,800 for the eight offences and was required to pay the Councils' costs of £7,414.81, plus a court charge of £170. He was also prohibited from running any food business for a minimum of six months.

Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils' Environmental Health Officers visited Chilli and Grill in March 2018. They found poor conditions and the business received a food hygiene rating of 1.

The Environmental Health Officers issued Food Hygiene Improvement Notices and worked with the business to improve conditions.

However, in October 2018 a visit to the business revealed conditions had deteriorated and subsequently the business was rated 0.

An Emergency Prohibition Notice was served to close the business temporarily due to it presenting an imminent risk to health.

This action was subsequently confirmed as appropriate by the Magistrates' Court and Chaudhry was ordered to pay the Councils' costs totaling £5009.00.

During their visits Environmental Health Officers found a lack of suitable training and supervision of staff, lack of adequate food safety management systems, lack of handwashing facilities, poor hand hygiene, ineffective cleaning and poor temperature control of high-risk foods.

The District Judge noted that Chaudhry had received many visits and interventions from Environmental Health since 2014 but had failed to take sufficient action.

Cllr Patrick Hogan, South Bucks District Council Portfolio Holder for Healthy Communities, said: "In South Bucks, most food businesses have either good or very good food hygiene ratings. Environmental Health Officers work with businesses to help them improve if they fall below this standard. As this case demonstrates, legal action is only a last resort when the business has failed to follow advice to improve hygiene standards, in order to prevent members of the public being put at risk."